Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Swine Flu: The Government's "Plausible Scenario"

From FoxNews:

"Sebelius appeared on NBC's "Today" show one day after a special presidential advisory panel presented a grim report to the Obama White House, saying among other things that a "plausible scenario" for the United States later this year is wide-scale infections, possibly 30,000 to 90,000 deaths, mostly among young children and young adults, and perhaps as many as 300,000 sick enough to require intensive care unit treatment at hospitals.

... A report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, delivered Monday, said that while the impact of H1N1 was impossible to predict, a "plausible scenario" is that the epidemic could "produce infection of 30-50 percent of the U.S. population this fall and winter, with symptoms in approximately 20-40 percent of the population (60-120 million people), more than half of whom would seek medical attention."

Swine flu could lead to as many as lead to as many as 1.8 million U.S. hospital admissions during the epidemic, with up to 300,000 patients requiring care in intensive care units. In fact, those very ill patients could occupy 50-100 percent of all ICU beds in affected regions of the country at the peak of the epidemic and place "enormous stress" on ICU units."

Tropical Storm Danny Forms; May Affect East Coast

SciGuy has the story.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Advertisers Ditch Glenn Beck Show at Prompting of Political Group

From the AP/Houston Chronicle:

"A total of 33 Fox advertisers, including Walmart, CVS Caremark, Clorox and Sprint, directed that their commercials not air on Beck's show, according to the companies and ColorofChange.org, a group that promotes political action among blacks and launched a campaign to get advertisers to abandon him. That's more than a dozen more than were identified a week ago.

...

[Beck] was actually on another Fox show July 28 when he referred to Obama as a racist with 'a deep-seated hatred for white people.'”

Friday, August 21, 2009

Swine Flu Update

WHO Predicts Fall Explosion in Swine Flu Cases

Karl Denninger: Depression Assured? Maybe (Swine Flu)
This article highlights the point that swine flu's biggest impact may not be in terms of lives lost but rather decline in GDP.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Why Women Should Keep and Bear Arms

I strongly encourage you to read this editorial from Seattle Post-Intelligencer commentator Erin Solaro on Women, Handguns and Civilization. It is truly outstanding.

"For a law-abiding citizen to bear personal arms is an act of civilization.

Not just an act of self-defense or an act in defense of civilization, but an act of civilization.

This is true for men and it is even more true for women. For a woman to bear personal arms means that she will not be deprived of her legal rights: to go any lawful place she pleases at any time; to be free in her body, meaning that she need not be defenseless against assailants; to live. And it means that the uncivilized, those who would deprive her of life and the liberties of a free citizen, including freedom from unwanted sexual contact, do so at absolute risk to their lives. ..."


Sunday, August 16, 2009

After Two Quiet Months, Tropics Finally Kick Into Gear

This time last week we didn't even have the first named tropical storm of the season.... and suddenly we're up to Claudette and counting. Time to start paying more attention to what's going on, as some of these storms are forming within the Gulf, leaving little time for preparation before they make landfall.

SciGuy: Update on the Tropics

TS Claudette Forms Off Northern Gulf Coast of Florida

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Mainstreaming of Survivalism

Well, I'm finally back after a longer-than-expected hiatus. Let me just say that I will not be willingly moving again anytime in the next decade. The movers were proof positive that incompetence has run rampant in this world.

It seems that survivalism is becoming increasingly mainstream. Fox News Channel's "Hannity" and NBC's "Today" have both aired pieces on "suburban survivalists" lately. Apparently Ashton Kutcher has a bug-out bag and guns (are you kidding me?) (not safe for work):



And then I saw this magazine cover at Target last night:

National Geographic Adventure: How to Survive (Almost) Anything

The article explains eight "Black Swan" (high consequence, low probability) situations such as wildfires, power grid collapse, and tsunamis and how to survive them. Definitely worth a read.

I don't know -- does it seem to you that survivalism is now becoming more mainstream, or am I just noticing it more because I am one now?